


Planning a Break

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4696487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair likes to get Jim away from the city occasionally</p>
            </blockquote>





	Planning a Break

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sentinel Thursday prompt 'fall'

Planning a Break

by Bluewolf

Blair had been to the dentist two days earlier, and while he waited for the dentist to see him - he had arrived nearly half an hour early for his appointment - he picked up a travel magazine that was lying on a table in the waiting room, among a selection of women's or sporting interest magazines that appealed to him not at all - if there had been one on fishing or camping or basketball, yes, but rock climbing and motor racing held no interest for him.

He might find the mindset of people who liked those sports interesting, but not the sports themselves.

He glanced at the list of contents in his selected magazine, pretty sure that he would have been to all of the places written about, and resolutely telling himself not to be critical, that whoever wrote the various articles had been to tourist destinations rather than the off-the-beaten-track places he had visited with Naomi when he was younger, or had been to as part of a student study he had undertaken once he went to Rainier. The writers would have been to - and would be pushing - the various 'must see' attractions of wherever, and in the process never realize that they were missing a lot of beauty spots that, because they _were_ off the beaten track, remained unspoiled by commercialism.

Much to his surprise, the magazine included an article about Washington State, and he turned to it. It, at least, would not leave him muttering in frustration about, "Why didn't you include something about... " that he knew he would be his reaction to an article about Peru, or Mexico, or Egypt, or even Yellowstone National Park. Although he had been at Rainier since he was sixteen, although he and Jim often, now, had a weekend camping and fishing, they had their favored spots; there was a surprising amount of the state he didn't know.

Blair checked the publication date of the issue, and was surprised to discover it was the current one, published that month, not one published six months previously; and as he began reading, he decided to buy a copy on his way home.

***

Now, two days later, he finally had time to read the article he had only just begun - the patient before him had been late, so Blair was taken in his place, leaving him sitting in Blair's slot.

The article, as Blair had known it would be, was slanted towards tourists; obvious attractions, some attractions not far off the beaten track, and a handful of 'absolutely must see' places. What did surprise Blair - whose experience was that writers of recommendations for tourists usually leaned on things man-made - was the inclusion among those 'absolutely must see' places was Wallace Falls State Park in Snohomish County. Only two miles from the town of Gold Bar, Wallace Falls was a triple waterfall, the three falls called, somewhat unimaginatively, lower, middle and upper.

As close to civilization as it was, the article admitted that it did see many visitors, but it was possible to beat the crowd by setting off early in the morning. Many visitors called it a day at the middle fall, but for the energetic the upper fall was worth the added distance... Blair shook his head; the total distance up the trail to the upper fall was less than three miles. Uphill miles, certainly, but... three miles? There were other waterfalls in the park, and there was hiking, kayaking and fishing... The article included some photos, and Blair decided that for their next weekend break, they should go there, just for a change. An early Saturday morning visit to the upper fall while the trail was still quiet, then a leisurely afternoon of fishing... A little hiking on Sunday morning, coming home in the afternoon...

He left the magazine lying where Jim would see it, quietly sure that Jim would look through it and suggest visiting Wallace Falls State Park; perfectly happy to let his friend made the suggestion. After all, there was also an article in it on Peru, and Blair was pretty sure that Jim would think he had bought the magazine for that one... since it went into some detail about Urubamba, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, in a way that gave it more interest to him, as an anthropologist, than he normally found in articles in a magazine intended for the general public. It might, he thought, be worth keeping an eye open for this particular magazine in future; at least two of its contributors - if they were regular ones - were good.

Yes - definitely better to let the suggestion come from Jim. Sometimes, he reflected, a guide had to be sneaky when he was keeping an eye open for his sentinel's welfare - and he knew Jim had not yet realized just how sneaky his guide was. He suspected that if Jim hadn't realized it yet, after close on four years, he never would.

And yet... Blair realized that in making that assumption, he could be riding for a fall. Jim was, perhaps, well aware of how sneaky Blair would be and was simply letting him get away with it.. until the day he put his foot down and refused to be coerced.

Well, if that happened, Blair was quite sure he could talk Jim around to his way of thinking. After all, although sometimes it had taken some persuasive talking, in four years he had always managed to get his own way... eventually.


End file.
